First, an apology for the early review of this movie. This movie is very good and such a short review is such a stupid thing to do, but without further delay, the real review.
Second, I meant what I said before though about the realism factor. Throughout the film, there's always the feeling that there's something bigger at work here. Whether it is the apparent accident with Grandpa back in the day that almost started World War 3, or it is that really weird event where Santa was discovered in the 1800s and Christmas was shut down for so many years and led to the Elves going crazy. It really paints a picture of just how important Santa really is to the elves.
When the elves begin to panic, it begins to be seen that these Elves need the human Santas to take charge, otherwise they would just run christmas without the Santas if they feared they would leave. With the exception of that really annoying yes-man elf that follows Arthur's older brother and that really motivated packing elf, who seems to end up becoming one of 2011s best animated characters.
Unfortunately, I recently saw the Nostalgia Critic episode of Arthur Christmas over christmas and it sadly means many of my thoughts about it are related to that video. I will try to keep this review original since I started writing these reviews to start saying what others don't always say, but if I sadly do, remember the quote by Rolan Barthes, "A writer can only imitate a gesture forever anterior, never original: his only power is to combine different kinds of writing". And yes, I stole that quote from OanCitizen's review of Cloud Atlas. The irony.
Now, to continue.
In the movie, Arthur is the mail reader who reads and responds to every letter written by a child to Santa. This clearly is used to show just how connected Arthur is to all the children, more so than anyone else, even his father, Santa himself.
Now, due to an accident (that he technically caused) a package is left undelivered to a child and he is terrified of what kind of heartbreak will soon follow the next day. His brother, who basically runs the whole operation nowadays, doesn't seem to have grasped the importance of the situation and shoves Arthur off. He has been fighting for his father to finally retire and give him the role of Santa and it has become very clear that in trying to prove his superiority, he has lost sight of what it means to be Santa.
The same can be said for the Grandfather, who used to be Santa but lost his position to his son and has forever been feeling inadequate around the house, just sitting with his old dog(reindeer), so he tricks Arthur into taking him and the deer-drawn sleigh out to hand-deliver the present themselves. Hitching a ride is the previously mentioned hyper-motivated packing elf and they travel, trying to find the little girl who was missed.
Mayhem ensues when the government catches wind of Arthur's adventures and the world believes that Aliens are invading. Ironic how the government is more willing to predict aliens instead of Santa.
Arthur's father and brother also catch wind of this and chase after them and the whole adventure ties to an end with all four of them banding together to deliver the present.
The movie is really good, with all sorts of little details going around that makes the whole movie feel more real than anything else. The use of the Aurora Borealis to magically power the engines makes sense for why they live in the north pole besides the seclusion. And the advancements in technology makes sense in a time progression. I'm sure back in the day, Santa only delivered presents to kids around him, then he expanded his reach the more villages he found, and as time went on and more villages were discovered, he had to get it done in one night so he had to advance his technology more and more.
A brilliant movie and I look forward to Sony's next animate film.
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